


Back to Life

by rickthesavior25



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Angst, Broken, Daryl - Freeform, Hope, Lost - Freeform, Love, M/M, Rickyl, Slash, Survival, broken souls, dead, savior, sorrowful life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2039223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rickthesavior25/pseuds/rickthesavior25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick has had enough of this world. So has Daryl. Will they continue living as is or will they give up completely?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gone

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins after what happened in Terminus.

It had been days that he'd remained in that trance like position, sitting down, legs curved up, arms resting on his knees; his blue eyes staring out into nothing. He felt the ache and numbness on his thighs and back but he refused to get up. The cold dirt underneath him didn't even bother him. Rick's eyes continued looking straight ahead and even though one might think he was actually looking at the green scenery in front of him, it was the total opposite. He wasn't lost in his thoughts. It was more than that. He was lost, yes, but he was lost into an abyss that he couldn't get out of. He didn't fight it. All his fighting strength was gone; taken from him. The man tried hard not to think about it. He tried hard but trying was futile.

Rick had tried to keep them alive; to save them. He really had. But it hadn't been enough. They were dead. The only two people that Rick had left were gone. He tried not to think of their faces but they were engraved in his skull and the pain stabbed him like a knife. Rick had almost fallen to the ground upon discovering that his baby girl was alive. He thought he was hallucinating the same way he did when he would see Lori's ghost at the prison. Rick's legs were weak and he had to command them to run towards Carol, the woman who he had banished from the prison upon finding out what she had done, but who now stood there holding Judith in her arms. That was the last time Rick had felt a state of bliss in his rotten world. And there was his son, Carl; the boy that meant the world to him. The boy that had once looked up to him so much. The boy that he had fought so hard to protect. Rick blamed himself. If only he had been more ruthless, more heartless; less human; they would still be alive. They would all still be alive. I should have killed him. I should have killed him. None of this would have happened if I had just killed him. We would have never left the prison if it weren't for that monster.

Why had this happened? He wondered. Why? Did they deserve it? He didn't think they did. Yes they had killed people and he knew that it was what had to be done. Rick had tried to live by the old rules and like the rest of his group, was forced to adapt to the new ones. It was a new world after all. It was a fucked up world but it was new nonetheless and just like in the old one, they had had to learn how to survive in it. Why had the world gone to shit? Why now? How? Rick remembered asking himself these questions not too long ago and once had wondered if he would ever find an answer. Time gave him none. He'd wondered why the government, who he had once respected and saw as the ultimate source of power, could let this happen. He hated them for letting everything get so out of control. This isn't real, he thought. None of this is real. It can't be. He had been in that place before many times now and he had managed to pull himself out of it. This time that seemed unlikely.

He'll be fine. Just give him sum time, Daryl told himself. Daryl had spent his morning setting up multiple snares. It wasn't that he was less broken than Rick was; he just figured that one of them had to try a little harder than the other one to keep them both alive. Daryl knew Rick was a strong man. He had learned this back at the prison. He believed Rick could pull through; believed both of them would. Daryl tried not to think about the pain Rick must be feeling about losing his two children. He tried not thinking about any of them, and he succeeded in doing so. He knew that if he did, he would be just like Rick; weak and useless. It wasn't that Daryl was heartless for thinking that. It's just that he knew damn well that both wouldn't last long alive if they both remained in that state. Daryl had only grieved once in his life and that was when his mother died when he was a child. He did not grieve for his father's death and as to for his brother's death, he just never had the time to mourn him the way normal people mourn their loved ones. The sad truth was that it had always been dog eat dog for Daryl and here he was, alive; a survivor.

Why out of thousands of people that were dead, Daryl was not, he often wondered. Is it because I'm strong? No. That's not it. He pushed the thoughts aside and found that his snare had caught a mildly chubby rabbit. If this had happened another day, a day far from these days, when he would have happily announced to the group of his caught reward, he would have smiled. Daryl and Rick had always looked out for each other back at the prison despite their first unpleasant encounter with each other. That hadn't changed. The surviving redneck was determined to keep himself and Rick alive just like he did back at the prison. It had been a while since Daryl had caught such a meaty rabbit. He'd always prefer the taste of rabbit to the taste of deer. Once he finished checking on the last snare and found that no other animal had caught in them, he went to sit by the shack they had been staying at for the past few days. They were lucky to have found the place walker-free.

After skinning the rabbit, Daryl went to look for Rick. He already knew where he was. Rick had spent his days up on a small hill less than a mile from the shack.

The day Daryl and Rick found the shack, three days after leaving Terminus, they had been exhausted in every way. They hadn't slept or eaten and Daryl suggested they spent the night there. Rick did not object to that. He didn't say anything. He just nodded at his suggestion. Daryl was not a man of many words and silence did not bother him, but after spending days with Rick, a man of many words, he'd found it strange to only have gotten a couple of words out of him. He knew that was to be expected; he knew he was grieving, but Daryl couldn't help to wonder when Rick would speak to him again. As he walked down the trail, his crossbow in hand, (an old habit), he spotted Rick. He was standing.

Normally, Daryl would have called out his name instead of having to walk up to him until they were face to face, but he felt like he needed to be more formal, something he rarely was. "Rick," Daryl said. The man standing a few feet from him did not turn to meet his gaze. Rick had been covered in blood from head to toe the day it'd all happened and even though he had cleaned up, he still looked rugged. "Rick," Daryl repeated. "I caught a rabbit. If ya wanna eat".

"Thanks. Not hungry," Rick replied solemnly.

"You got to eat man", Daryl replied. Rick let out a small sigh. He wanted to just be alone out here. Being with Daryl reminded him of the people they'd lost. He wished Daryl would just walk back to the shack. He almost felt bad for thinking that.

"I'm not hungry Daryl. I'll eat later," he assured him. And with that said, Daryl knew it would be stupid to keep trying and walked back to the shack.

Just like the previous night, Rick awoke screaming from the horrible nightmare that tore up his insides. He panted hard trying to catch his breath, sweat dripping from his hair down his forehead and quickly tried to erase the picture from his mind. In the room next to Rick's was Daryl's, who laid there awake, wanting to go check on Rick, but didn't. That had been how their nights had been; Rick being awoken by the nightmares and Daryl being awoken by his screaming. It was something that couldn't be helped.

As the days went by, Rick did not get better. In the old world, people grieved a person's death in different ways. Some decided to keep themselves occupied; women would clean their homes for hours until they tired; some spent a lot of time with family and friends and avoided being at home by themselves; others found simple tasks to do as simple as reading or watching a lot of tv in their room. Rick did not do any of that. He couldn't do any of those things, like watch tv or read books, not just because there was no tv or books in the shack, but because he didn't have the desire to do anything. He spent his time sitting up on the small hill. There was a tree there so big one could climb it and be able to see miles of the vicinity.

Rick thought about Lori. He thought about when he first met her; the good days; the time he was so in love with her. She was his first and only love. He thought about the times they would go to the park and just walk around it in circles, talking, never getting tired of the routine. He really enjoyed doing that and he knew she did too. He remembers the first time he told her 'I love you' right there in the middle of the baseball field. It had been a cool summer night and they had danced in the field to each other's songs. He had loved her so much.

When Rick became a cop, while being married to Lori, their love suffered. Neither of them knew how to fix the issue and even though their arguing wasn't as bad as other couple's, they knew something was broken. What it was, they weren't sure. They never went to marriage counseling and after Carl was born, it only got worse. Rick had tried to be reasonable. He never yelled at Lori the way she yelled at him and that angered her. Sometimes Lori thought she didn't deserve him; he was simply too good of a man. Perhaps it was the way her father had treated her mother that had given her a sense that that was just the way husbands treated their wives, and when Rick acted otherwise, it shocked her.

Rick wished he could go back in time; he never really wished that, never really had regrets about his past, but he did with Lori; with his wife. He wished he could just go back and fix it. Maybe if he had done that, she would still be alive. They would still have each other, and maybe their love could be restored, with time. Maybe if Rick hadn't spent so much of his time at the police station, maybe if he had spent more time with her and Carl, maybe he would have been happier. He spent an amount of time thinking about that. It angered him. How could he be so blind? Rick had great policeman instincts which he applied to his everyday life and helped him catch bad guys and even helped him save his life on multiple occasions. If only he had used some of those instincts to see what was going on at his home.

Rick was not a religious man. He didn't believe God ever helped him with anything and so he wasn't going to curse at him for all of this, even if he wanted to. He knew he had survived hundreds of encounters with walkers and people, but he saw that as mere luck, not God's work. He then thought about Carl. He wished his son had gotten the chance to do all the things he was supposed to do in the old life; learn how to drive, date a girl, graduate from high school, go to college, get married. Carl was a good person and he deserved that and so much more. Judith deserved the same. She never got to meet her mother and Rick couldn't forgive himself for that, even after all this time. The little girl who might not have even been his biological daughter, but still loved her as if she was; who was never meant to grow up in this fucked up world but he hoped would still survive it as Rick and Carl had, was dead. Gone. Gone like everyone else.

I can't do this anymore. I just can't.

Rick had lost his will to live. He was gone as well. There was nothing he could do anymore. It was ok to let go now, he thought. This world was not for him. Not anymore. The decision was made and nothing could change his mind.


	2. Torn

Daryl rubbed his eyes as he sat up lazily on the bed that had managed to provide him with a couple of hours of sleep. It hadn't been enough of course but it had been more sleep than he'd gotten in weeks. The dirty long hair that hung down his face, which had grown even longer these past few weeks, and the dark circles under his eyes, along with the old worn out clothes, gave the man the appearance of a poor homeless man. Daryl wasn't conscious of this of course. It wasn't like he spent his day in front of a mirror and there was no one to impress. The truth was, Daryl had never been the grooming kind of guy.

He got up and went to the small kitchen. The kitchen was very small and looked badly designed to Daryl. He knew they were low on food, having consumed most of the canned good the first few days they'd stayed there but he went on and checked the cupboard anyway. There were three cans left; one was filled with corn, the other one with tomato sauce and there other with tuna.

"Damn", he muttered.

Daryl knew he would have to go look for food soon. He also wondered if Rick was capable of going with him. Not giving it a second thought, he exited the shack and went to look for him.

He knew exactly where he would be. Once he made his way to the small hill, he didn't see him there. Where is he? he wondered. He decided to put his tracking skills to save himself time. On the grass, it was hard to see any footprints. Right away he knew it wouldn't be so simple. He decided to walk north, into the forest. Suddenly he remembered that he'd left his crossbow at the shack and hoped he wouldn't need it. He still had that knife in his back pocket and he knew how to use it.

It felt like an hour to Daryl, walking through the forest and still no trace of Rick. He was becoming frustrated and a little worried. He knew Rick could handle himself better than any other but he wondered why he had left just like that. How many times had Daryl done this? Walked through a forest looking for someone? He had done this in the old life and the new one. He had looked for his brother Merle more than twice, Sophia, Beth, and now Rick.

He can't be far, he thought. Daryl picked up a trail after walking through a grassy area with a small section of dirt around it. The trail was faint but it was something. He was sure it was Rick's. By the way Rick's footsteps had been marked on places where Daryl wouldn't have seen easily, it almost seemed to Daryl as if Rick didn't want to be found; like he was avoiding leaving any trace of his entrance to the forest at all. Daryl thought hard about this and he began to have a bad feeling in his gut. Rick. He hoped he was wrong.

He concentrated harder at the soil beneath his feet, not leaving any details out. A simple twig on the ground could tell him a lot. Up ahead by a tall oak tree, he saw a body behind it. It was a walker. Daryl approached it carefully holding grabbing the knife out of his pant pocket. The walker was dead, its head completely bashed in. Had Rick done this? Most likely. It had been a smart move not to shoot it; he'd obviously beaten it to death with the blood-covered rock sitting a few feet away from it. I should be getting closer to where he is, he thought.

The sun was hitting hard through the open gaps above the trees and Daryl's body was starting to perspire. He wanted to find Rick already and head back to the shack. Damn you Rick. He continued following the trail by the walker's body and stopped himself, dumbfounded at the sight in front of him. A lake he hadn't seen before stood right in front of him, its water dark, green, and bright all at the same time. Daryl walked towards the lake and wanted nothing more but to just dive into it when he spotted something that looked like a human body floating in the middle of the water. Daryl could not see its face as the body's back faced his direction. He got closer to the shore of the lake and squinting his eyes at the figure inside the lake, he realized it was Rick.

"Rick!" he called out. "Rick!"

Rick didn't turn around. He just stood there, floating in place. Daryl yelled out his name again and still didn't get a response. What the hell's he doing?

Without bothering to take off his shirt and pants, he just took off his shoes and went into the water. The water was cold but it felt good against his hot skin. He began to swim towards Rick and called his name again, "Rick! What the hell are you doing man! I've been looking all over for you." Rick heard Daryl clearly but he still did not acknowledge his presence there. He seemed very lost in translation, just like he'd been these past few days. Daryl got even closer to him and said more calmly, "Rick. What are you doing man?" when he saw the gun in Rick's hand. Rick finally turned to look at Daryl. Rick's eyes looked at Daryl as if he didn't recognize him; they saw him as a stranger. "Rick? What's going on man? What are you doing over here?" Daryl said uneasy. He could tell something wasn't right.

Rick continued to stare at Daryl as if not even hearing the words that had just come out of his mouth. Putting his hand over his shoulder, Daryl said, "Rick? What are you doing man? Talk to me."

"Go away," Rick finally replied angrily. "Leave me alone. Just go away Daryl." Daryl became pissed in a second. "Rick what the fuck man," he spat. "I've been looking for you for hours man. I thought something might have happened to you and here you are in the middle of a fuckin' lake telling me to go away. What the fuck's wrong with you?"

Rick looked at the man with those intense blue eyes. He didn't look guilty or bothered by the fact that Daryl had gone looking for him. He knew Daryl would do just that. Daryl waited for Rick to say something but all he did was sigh. "Just leave me be. Go back to the shack."

Daryl became infuriated. He wanted to punch Rick in the face but he knew better than to do that. He tried hard to calm down and remembered the gun in his hand. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what the hell you're doing here. Don't look to me like you just came to swim."

Rick's head lowered down to meet the water. He remained like that, not saying anything to Daryl for a minute, while the other man waited patiently for an answer. Daryl shivered a little as a small gust of wind blew by. "Daryl. Just…go," Rick said, his voice low and cold.

Daryl felt like he was about to lose it completely. "You tryin' to kill yourself? Is that it?" he said even colder. Rick's expression remained motionless, his eyes still looking down at the dark water. "I-" Rick said. "Daryl. I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I can't. I give. I've lost them all. They're all dead Daryl. We couldn't save them and now they're dead. Carl. Judith. Dead. I have nothing else to live for. I don't want to be alone in this world. They were my strength don't you see that? And now they're…gone."

Daryl felt like such an asshole. "What about me Rick?" he began to say, still angry. "You gonna leave me too?" Right after saying that, he regretted it. He didn't know what had come over him and why he would say something like that. Damn it. But he was right.

Rick's face looked astounded at Daryl's response. He was completely speechless. "Daryl, I-" he said but didn't know what to say. Daryl didn't know what to say either. The water around them began to feel colder. "You know they were my family too Rick. I've never had a family before. Not like them. It's hard for me too. Please don't do this," Daryl said with a broken voice.

Rick looked at Daryl this time. His blue eyes confused, lost. He felt guilty and he didn't know what to say to him. He had thought about his decision, the reasons behind it, but he hadn't considered Daryl's feelings. Daryl was not his friend; that he knew; he was more than that. He was his brother. Rick was torn. He was torn and he was tired of floating in the cold water. But he knew that he had to do this.

"I'm sorry Daryl. I've made my decision. I'm doing this," Rick finally said. The water began to feel extremely cold. Daryl couldn't believe him. He'd thought somehow he could get through to him but he saw that he just couldn't. Unless…

The thought came to him like a breath of air and he thought he was crazy for even thinking it. Without giving it much thought, Daryl said "Fine. So have I," and he went underwater. He let go completely of his body's strength and did not try to swim.

"Daryl? Daryl!" Rick yelled out. "Daryl stop messing around!" he said angrily. Rick waited seconds for Daryl to come back to the surface and when he didn't, he brought his head under to see him. When he saw Daryl's body falling down slowly, he knew it was real. Adrenaline pumping through his cold body, he swam towards him as fast as he could. Daryl's eyes were closed when Rick's hands grabbed his torso and pulled him upwards, trying to bring him back into the surface. Rick could tell the lake was very deep and that if he'd waited a little longer to dive down and get Daryl, it might have been very difficult to bring them both back up.

They made it to the surface, both gasping for air, their bodies barely being able to float. "Daryl!" Rick said out of breath. "Answer me!" Daryl's eyes opened slowly, the color of his skin robbed of oxygen. "Rick", he managed to say, his voice barely audible. "Hang on", Rick told him and turned him so he could be behind him, locking Daryl's arms around his neck and holding them tight with his hands. With barely any strength left, Rick tried hard to swim back to the shore.

They walked in silence through the woods, Daryl leading them back to the shack. Daryl knew Rick was angry, and so he didn't bother to say anything. He was just glad he'd saved him even though it had almost cost him his life. He knew perfectly well why Rick was pissed but he could deal with that later. Right now his main goal was to get them back to the shack before the sunlight abandoned the forest. Daryl felt the footsteps behind him cease. Hesitantly, he turned around to find Rick staring right at him. The look he shot at Daryl penetrated right through him. He was familiar with that look. It was the look of betrayal.

"I'm not going back" Rick said. "Daryl, what you did back there, it wasn't fair. You know it wasn't. I told you already. Nothing you say is going to change my mind. I'm doing this, even if you are not okay with it. I just can't do this anymore. Can you understand that?"

Daryl did understand. He did not blame Rick for wanting to die. Still, he wasn't okay with his decision. He wanted to convince him to not do it but he didn't know what to tell him. He knew saying that things would be okay was bullshit. Because it was. Things wouldn't be okay, ever. They'd learned this multiple times. They both had lost people. A lot of people. Too many. But now that Rick was the last person in his life, he just couldn't lose him.

"Rick. Please. Don't do this. Don't…leave me," Daryl pleaded, feeling so vulnerable. He felt so strange saying this to him, exposing this side of him that he'd tried so hard not to show anyone.

Rick couldn't believe hearing Daryl speak like that. "Daryl," he sighed. "I don't know how I can keep living like this. I don't want to. I'm just tired."

"I am too Rick. But we're strong. We'll figure it out. C'mon. Can you at least think about it a little longer? Maybe you'll change your mind," Daryl said hopeful.

"Daryl," he sighed. "Alright", he said. He wasn't angry anymore.

He stood at the door of Rick's bedroom and watched him sleep. He knew what he had to do; be strong for both. How he would do this, he did not know, but he hoped that he would know soon. I'm sorry Rick. You are the only one I got left. I can't lose ya.

Daryl walked back to his bedroom hoping tomorrow things would be okay.

And they were.


	3. Haunting

Daryl

He woke up from the deepest sleep feeling a soreness in every muscle in his body from the previous day's near drowning. Damn. I'm getting old. Daryl stretched his arms slowly only to be stopped by the aching feeling. He got up and went to the bathroom feeling hungry already. After his bathroom trip, he stopped by Rick's bedroom, which was right next to it. The door was not shut completely, so he didn't need to push it open more; he could see well from where he stood. Rick seemed to be asleep. He looked peaceful on his bed despite yesterday's event. Daryl hoped he would be fine. He remembered there was no food and that meant hunting. He considered taking Rick with him; he thought it would be good for him, a distraction.

Daryl stepped out of the shack to get some fresh air. He had slept shirtless and the air felt good on his bare chest. He put his hand down his right pocket searching for something; a cigarette. "Fuck", he cursed at the wet cigarette. Should'a taken off my pants too. Daryl almost laughed at his own remark. He was feeling in a good mood despite yesterday's incident. It was a strange feeling. He frowned at the cigarette and dropped it on the grass. It had been his last one. Daryl did not have a smoking problem but he did like to have a cigarette once in a while. His father had been a drunk and a smoker. It was no surprise that Daryl had picked up the habit, especially at a young age.

He stared at the trees around him. Everything seemed quiet. He heard absolutely nothing. It was a rare and peaceful moment but it wasn't right. He missed the sound of birds and the presence of squirrels running around looking for food. It was beautiful here, and peaceful. Daryl knew it would be nice to stay here for a long time; he loved the forest, always had, but he also knew that this was only temporary. Ever since he was a kid, the happy moments he got to enjoy, which were very few, didn't last long, and this was no exception. He'd caught a break at the prison; a long one, and he was grateful for that. Now it was just Rick and him and he wished they could catch a permanent break.

He began to worry as he thought about the safety of both men. They'd done alright for days, with no herds passing through the forest, but how long would that last. He knew they had to move somewhere else but he didn't know where. There was no place safe, except for Terminus, but that was out of the question. We gotta go somewhere. But where? There's nowhere to go to.

They were in the worse situation. They had no ammo, no food, no car. We're fucked. We can't survive out here like this. What do I do? What do I do? He sighed. First things first, he thought. We need food.

He heard the footsteps coming from behind and he turned to meet his gaze. Rick's eyes were red and his face looked aged from grief. "Hey," Rick told him.

"Hey," Daryl replied. He noticed Rick dart his eyes at Daryl's exposed chest. He hadn't been conscious that this was the first time he'd been shirtless in front of him. "You slept alright?" he asked him. Rick's eyes darted back to meet Daryl's and said "I did. What about you?"

Daryl nodded, obviously lying, but not wanting Rick to see it.

"Rick. There's no food. Let's go hunting," Daryl said as Rick yawned and stretched himself. Rick met him with a puzzled look. "Damn. Alright. Now?" Rick replied. Daryl nodded. They went inside to get their weapons.

Daryl wondered if Rick was angry at him as they walked through the forest He wanted to ask him but he was afraid to. He decided to not think about that and focus on the hunt.

"Here's a good spot", the hunter said, as he crouched over the ground and started tying two sticks together. Rick watched as he assembled the trap. He was amazed at how quickly Daryl's hands had set up the trap. He admired the skill the man showed for these kind of things; he always had. "You taught yourself?" Rick asked him. "I did", he replied, getting up.

The weather was starting to feel warmer and Daryl became thirsty. "Let's come back later," he said and they walked down another route away from the spot Daryl wouldn't forget.

He's too quiet, Daryl thought as they walked by trees that weren't providing much shade. His long hair was starting to become wet and he felt the need to take off his shirt but didn't. Rick followed Daryl as he sat on a big oddly shaped rock. "Where are you planning to go to?" Rick asked him taking him aback, the silence finally shattering. He knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Dunno yet. But I will think of something", Daryl replied, his voice calm and confident. "You mad about yesterday?"

Rick sat next on the ground across Daryl and said "Yeah. A bit." Daryl tried not to frown at that and wiped a drip of sweat off his forehead with the bandana hanging from his pants pocket.

"We should move soon," Rick said. He was looking down at the ground as if thinking of other things.

"Yeah," Daryl replied. The heat was starting to get to him and he wondered if a squirrel or a rabbit had fallen into his trap. They sat in silence a few more minutes, none of them saying what was on their mind, when they heard rustling from Rick's direction. Looking towards that direction at the same time, Daryl raised his crossbow and Rick his gun. He'd let Daryl know that he only had twelve bullets before they left the shack and Daryl told him to take his blade too.

They got on their feet as the rustling came from more than one direction. Daryl knew it was walkers before they came out of from behind the tall trees. They came out fast at spotting Daryl and Rick, six of them total. Daryl had hoped they were only a couple and that they would be able to take them out quick.

Daryl aimed at the grotesque female looking creature and fired the arrow right through its skull. A very fat walker came at Rick and he waited for it to get close enough to bury the sharp blade into its head while Daryl prepared another arrow and fired it at another walker going towards Rick's direction. "I got this one!" Rick yelled out as he ran for the slowest of the walkers who limped oddly, Rick observing then that the bone from its leg was sticking out through its dark rotten flesh. He didn't struggle at striking its head with the blade and he didn't stop stabbing at it for more than two minutes. Daryl watched him do this and didn't dare tell the man to stop. Rick had done the same thing to a few walkers on their way out of Terminus.

The remaining two walkers moved slower than the others, both male, and Daryl's arrows brought them to the ground in a matter of seconds.

Daryl stood still, holding his crossbow up high, waiting for more of them to come out, while Rick remained crouching by the dead walker. When no more walkers came out of the forest, Daryl lowered his crossbow and walked towards Rick. "You okay?" he asked the man, his face covered with sweat and walker blood. If this had been the old world, anyone that saw Rick would have frozen with fear of standing next to him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rick answered, not sounding the bit friendliest. Daryl dismissed his tone and said, "Let's go then". Daryl could have sworn he heard Rick mutter the word shit.

He checked the trap and found nothing had landed on it. "Fucking shit," he cursed. Deep down, Daryl had had a feeling that this would happen. He didn't know why; he just did; but he refused to say anything. If Daryl had had his motorcycle with him, he would have gone searching for food into any town. For a second, the hunter felt a moment of impotence. He then remembered something and felt like such an idiot. The lake.

Rick

Rick felt a rain of guilt wash over him as he stood in front of the big lake he'd discovered not too long ago. He'd found it not yesterday, but not another day when Daryl had knocked out for a few hours and didn't come looking for him. He had felt guilty about it. Rick couldn't remember seeing any fish in the water but Daryl said he had seen some. He got lost in his thoughts as Daryl looked for a piece of wood he could sharpen. I could have just done it, he thought. He tried not to sigh as Daryl walked past him with a long wooden stick in one hand and his knife in the other. Rick caught himself feeling anger towards Daryl as he watched him work his knife on the stick. He stared at him with blazing eyes, feeling angrier, remembering. How could he do that? he thought. How dared he. Rick felt like punching something. He wanted to punch Daryl. It took him a few minutes to form the courage to take a walk instead.

Rick hated being in his head. He wanted nothing more but to just shut it off; stop his thoughts completely. He wanted to stop thinking about Terminus but the images came at him like tv commercials that would repeat every five minutes. Rick wanted to stop thinking altogether. This needs to stop. Rick wanted to run far away from the lake, from Daryl, and just shoot himself in the head. No. Stop, a small voice echoed somewhere in his head. Rick wanted to scream. Just do it. It's what you have to do. He took the gun from his belt and stared at it with fear. He stood there, shaking, then fell on his knees and cried.

"I can't do it," he said to no one, his voice broken. "I can't do it."

He then heard footsteps on the grass. He knew it was Daryl when the man didn't say anything while Rick was still on his knees. Rick met Daryl's appalled eyes and said, "I couldn't do it." Daryl looked at Rick, wanting to say something but not knowing what. He extended his hand out to Rick to help him stand and he took it.

They walked to the shack and encountered zero walkers on their way there. Daryl had caught three fish and Rick forced himself to eat as they sat in the small table in the kitchen. They ate in silence and Rick didn't thank Daryl as he walked to his room. He laid in bed and wished he could fall asleep instantly but of course that didn't happen.

The next day he woke to find Daryl was nowhere to be seen. He'd checked his room, the bathroom, and walked outside the shack to not find the man there. The bright sunlight hit his face directly and he squinted as he saw Daryl running towards him. "Daryl! What's wrong?" he asked him as Daryl stood just a few feet from him, his face was sweaty and hair messy.

"Rick," Daryl said in his serious tone. "I saw someone. A girl. She looked young," he explained. Rick's eyes grew big with curiosity, and fear. "I called to her but she ignored me. She saw me. I tried following her but she got a little far and I didn't want to go that far without you knowing where I was."

Rick processed the information and saw these as bad news. "Did you see anyone else?" he asked, his tone worrisome. "No. Just her."

"Are you sure?" Rick asked. His head was already spinning with thoughts and fear. Rick pictured a group in his mind; a group of bad people. He didn't want to deal with that; he really didn't, but he needed to know right now if that was something he had to prepare for. "I'm sure," Daryl replies. "Should we go after her?" he then asked.

"What for? So we can get killed in the process?" Rick replies.

"Maybe she's hurt. Maybe she needs our help."

"So what if she does? We all need help. If you want to go after her, go ahead. But I'm not going," Rick says, annoyed and frustrated. Daryl glares at him in disbelief. "Don't you have a conscience? She could die Rick."

"I used to have one. Maybe she will do just that. Maybe it's a good thing," the former sheriff says back, giving Daryl an intense look; the look he always gave to someone when he was done with his argument. He then walks away, into the shack.

Rick sat on a chair in the living room staring at the big wooden clock that hung from the dark brown wall, next to the chimney. The clock was broken and Rick stared at its non-ticking hands, wondering if he could get it to work. He got up and checked the back of it to find that the battery was missing. Remembering that he had an extra battery in his bag, he went into his room to retrieve it. The battery he had was a triple A and did not fit the clock. He sighed in disappointment and sat back on the chair, holding the clock on his lap. What the hell am I doing? What do I care what time it is. It doesn't matter anymore.

Daryl came in through the door like a moody teenager, slamming the door back and going into his room. He came back out wearing his angel winged vest and stood in front of Rick. "I'm going to go look for the girl. Just letting ya know." He then walked towards the door and was stopped by Rick telling him to not go. "Just let it go Daryl."

"No Rick. I can't. She could be a good person," Daryl said. Rick scoffed at him. "Right. That's very likely. Well you go ahead and hope that you don't end up getting into trouble," he said sounding harsher than he anticipated. Daryl gave him a look of disbelief before he walked out the door, not slamming the door this time.


	4. Stranger

Rick

"Fucking Daryl," Rick said to no one as he walked down the path he thought Daryl had headed in. He knew what he was doing, what they were both doing, was plain reckless, not to mention dangerous, but it was Daryl and he wasn't going to let him go into the forest alone going after some stranger only to not have him come back; after what they've been through, he knew that was very possible. Rick couldn't understand why Daryl couldn't let this go.

After walking through the forest for what it felt like more than hour, he decided to sit down on a rock and realized that he had no idea if he was still on Daryl's trail. His feet hurt and he wished he was wearing more comfortable shoes instead of his boots. He sat there, his hair drenched in sweat, and thought if he should continue walking south or try going west.

I could just walk back. Maybe he won't find that girl and he'll just go back to the shack. Rick then thought about how long Daryl had spent looking for Sophia after she went missing. He'd gone on his own and made it back to the farm on his own. Of course he'd gotten hurt in the process but he'd made it back alive. When Rick first met Daryl, he right away saw through him. He thought of him as trouble maker who couldn't and wouldn't cooperate with the rest of group and that would only cause him headaches. If this had been the old world, he would have kept his on eye on him if Daryl would get himself in trouble often. But Daryl had surprised Rick beyond belief. He'd proved Rick wrong in so many ways and Rick was truly grateful to have had Daryl in his life when the dead had come back to life. Rick had seen a number of troublemakers and criminals change and redeemed themselves in his days as a cop but they didn't compare to the way Daryl had changed since their first encounter. Daryl had done things for Rick and the group that he didn't think anyone else would do, and that included his own best friend, Shane. Rick thought Daryl was a very good man and he regretted thinking lowly of him back then.

Rick's thoughts were stopped abrupt by a walker that came out of the tall plants behind the pine tree he walked next to. The walker growled and moved fast once it saw Rick. Rick pulled out his knife from his pocket as it came towards him and put it out of its misery as it stumbled down when its foot got caught on a branch that grew out of the ground. He cleaned the blood off his blade on the ground and avoided looking at the dead creature.

He continued walking west, thirsty and hungry, wondering if he was ever going to find Daryl. The path he was walking was very unfamiliar to him and he hoped he wouldn't get lost as he kept walking. Rick had some experience in searching for people in forests, and other places too, but he'd never been in a forest this big and he usually had a map with him during the search. Even though there was shade where he was, the temperature was rising by the minute and Rick considered taking off his shirt to cool off a little but shook off the idea once he remembered about the random walkers that kept coming out of nowhere. Rick was tired and he wanted nothing but to just walk back and take a cold shower. He'd always enjoyed taking cold showers, even in the not so warm weather.

After another half an hour of walking in the same path surrounded by the same trees and plants, he decided to walk back to the shack.

He tried to stay awake as he laid on the old worn out mattress in his room, his boots off, but the eternal walk he'd taken and the searing heat were battling against his tired body. Rick didn't need to see a clock to know that the sun would set soon. Daryl. I hope you're ok. He knew he could take care of himself but he still felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Rick wanted to continue looking for him but he was just too tired. His head ached and if it weren't for his worry for Daryl's return, he would have fallen asleep right where he was.

The banging sound against the glass on the window made Rick jump off and like a reflex, he had his gun in his hand in a less than a second. Without putting on his boots, he walked slowly towards the door of his room and peeked out of the room into the living room. A disgusting face stood against the glass and Rick thought about his next course of action. He thought about staying quiet until it just left and then Rick saw that he was really in trouble when three more walkers appeared. "Fuck."

Rick knew he couldn't use his gun but he also didn't know if there were more walkers outside. He considered going out through the back and luring them away from the shack one by one. Before Rick could even walk out of the bedroom, he heard something hit the glass. With adrenaline already streaming down his blood vessels, he stepped out of the room and saw the walker's head sliding down the glass, an arrow through its head.

Daryl.

He knew he had to act quickly and it was risky to open the door but he had to help him. When he opened the door, a walker landed on the floor by his feet. A long wooden object that looked like some type of spear was impaled in the walker's head. Rick stared at the weapon for a few seconds then looked up and found a girl staring right at him. She was shorter than him and Daryl and had long dark hair. The girl was wearing black worn out jeans and a green dirty shirt. She was covered in dirt from head to toe; especially her face and he had trouble seeing her facial features. He could tell her eyes were dark and that she had that dead-killer look he'd seen on those he'd met.

Rick stepped out the door, walking over the dead body and saw Daryl shoot the last walker down. He was relieved at seeing Daryl had come back but he couldn't help to feel a wave of anger build up as he walked towards him. "Rick," Daryl said. "I found her." He was very sweaty and had that tired look on his face.

"I can see that," Rick replied, trying to sound indifferent. He wanted to yell at him for bringing a stranger and he fought hard to restrain himself from doing so in front of her. Daryl stared at Rick with bitter eyes and said "You mad?"

Rick stared at him with what Daryl understood as disappointment. "We'll talk later. Get her inside." Daryl gave Rick look of disbelief and walked towards the girl.

Rick sat outside motionless on a wooden chair. It'd been covered in blood and he'd put a rag over it that he'd found in the back of the shack. Nighttime had fallen and he realized he hadn't eaten all day as a cold breeze made his skin shiver. He'd been lost in thought and almost jumped up in his chair when he heard the door open abruptly. "She fell asleep," Daryl said in his apathetic voice and Rick could tell from his tone that he was very tired too.

Rick didn't say anything to that and Daryl took that as confirmation that the conversation they were about to have would be as unpleasant as their last. He didn't want to argue tonight but with Rick, that was unlikely. Daryl went to stand across Rick and said "She was in bad shape when I found her Rick. She wouldn't have made it out there if I hadn't found her. I know you ain't ok with this but she's here now. I don't think she's dangerous. I already questioned her. She was in a group but they left her, because they thought she was weak. Now don't tell me that ain't fucked up."

For some reason that he couldn't comprehend, Rick did not feel bad for the girl. He tried to understand why Daryl had risked his life going after a girl he owned nothing to. "We know nothing about her. Do you understand that Daryl? Has the past taught you nothing?" Daryl remained quiet and Rick added, "She's a threat. She shouldn't be here. She could kill us in our sleep."

"She won't. I'll keep my eye on her. Let's give her a few days, see how she behaves and stuff. If I'm wrong about her, I'll deal with her. Now can we please just stop talking about this? I'm tired man."

Rick thought about saying something else but instead he said, "Fine. Go rest. I'll take watch. You know we have to move soon right? We can't stay here."

"I know. We'll talk in the morning."

By the time the sun rose, Rick could barely blink. He wished he had had some coffee in his system but of course that was a luxury he was likely never going to have again. He built the strength to get up the chair and felt a sore pain in every muscle when he attempted to stretch out his arms. Rick had been lucky that no walker had passed by through the night. He could barely walk and wanted nothing more than to sleep on his shabby mattress. When he opened the door, he was startled by the girl standing in the middle of the room. She looked the same as yesterday; dirty and exhausted. "Hi," she said in a girly voice. The girl looked no more than sixteen and Rick found it hard to believe she'd been out there by herself and hadn't died in a day. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself yesterday. That was rude of me. My name is Nicole. And you're Rick right? Nice to meet you."

Rick was taken aback by the manners the stranger presented. He was still suspicious of her regardless. "It's odd to hear that. But yeah, nice to meet you too," he said. The girl let out a chuckle. "You're right. It is odd," she replied. "Where is my spear? I was looking for it before you came in."

"I don't know. I was out keeping watch all night. Daryl in his room?"

"I think so, yeah."

Rick walked into Daryl's room and shook tapped him on the shoulder and he woke right away. "I'm guessing ya wanna sleep?" Daryl said, rubbing his right eye.

"Your guess is correct."

"Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on her."

"You hid her spear?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Rick woke up feeling like a baby that'd just slept for sixteen hours. His muscles felt less sore as he got up to walk and found Daryl and Nicole sitting outside the shack. "Hey," he said.

"Hey. You slept good?" Daryl asked, who looked in a mellower mood than before. Rick wondered if the girl had anything to do with that. He noticed the girl's face was clean now and her hair looked cleaner too as if she'd shampooed it. It looked lighter out in the sun. "I slept very good," Rick replied.

"You hungry? We were waiting for you to wake up to go catch some fish," Daryl said.

"I think I'm hungry. Let's do that, yeah."

Between the three of them, they managed to catch five fish. Rick wasn't sure who had been the happiest about their 'victory'; Daryl or Nicole. He'd been happy himself but unlike Daryl, he didn't allow himself to drop his guard around the girl. Daryl on the other hand treated the girl as if he would treat anyone from their former group, especially since her spear had done most of the catching.

Rick watched the girl devour her fish like an animal. Clearly she'd been starving longer than Rick and Daryl. He wondered if she had made the spear herself or if she'd gotten it from somewhere or someone. It was well crafted and he could tell that it had killed a numerous amount walkers by the dried blood that she'd failed to remove of it. He decided to ask her who she'd gotten it from because there was no way she'd made that herself when she was clueless at surviving in the wild. "It was my friend's. His name was Henry. I took it after he died," she replied. Rick did not want to know how that had come to be so he continued to eat his food in silence. Still, he knew he had to ask, and there was a lot to ask.

It was up to Daryl and Rick to keep watch for walkers and even though they were both beat, they had to do it. Rick volunteered this time and Daryl did not oppose his suggestion.

The sky was dark and the forest around him was even darker and if it wasn't for the stars and the moon shining their light down below, Rick would need a flashlight to see his surroundings. The air felt cool on his skin and he walked around the shack, thinking. He couldn't help to feel a distrusting feeling towards the stranger. So far she hadn't acted out in a suspicious manner, but that could just be part of her act. I'm doubting a teenager Daryl rescued from dying out there. What am I doing?

He continued walking, his thoughts not leaving him. The air felt cooler that he shivered and he wished it the cold would numb his mind. He didn't want to think anymore. As ironic as it was, he just wanted to walk and enjoy the night's silence.

One of Rick's best qualities as a former policeman was his hearing. Shane had once told him that he had the hearing of a dog whenever they would nap in parking lots while in patrol. He just knew it was a walker and his heart began to race as he slowly walked around the shack to the back of it where he'd heard the rustling. The back of the shack was even darker and he stopped at his footsteps deciding to remain still. He then heard a sound of what sounded like coughing and not growling. It was loud and Rick became very confused as the coughing sound turned into gagging. He tried to figure out what was going on. Can walkers do that? he wondered. Rick felt a chill as he became certain that someone or something was vomiting right by the trees. "Who's there?" he called out, his voice fearless and demanding, his gun pointing at the dark. The gagging sound ceased and then there was silence. "Who's there?" Rick repeated, taking three small steps forward. He waited for an answer and again there was none. He could tell the figure was standing there in the dark but he could not see who it was. "Who is there damn it! Answer or I'll shoot," Rick said, his voice full of alarm more than fear.

A voice finally spoke, "It's me Nicole. Don't shoot Rick." The black figure took a few steps across and Rick could make out the shape of her figure a little clearer.

"What the hell are you doing out here? Why didn't you say anything when I called out to you?" he asked, angrily.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't feeling well. I think it was the fish. I feel a little better now," the girl said. She then walked past Rick and went back to the shack.

He then heard other footsteps coming from behind them. He turned around to find Daryl running towards him. "Rick? Everything alright?"

"Yeah. I thought I saw something but it was just Nicole throwing up. Said it was the fish we ate earlier."

"Huh. That's odd. I cooked it pretty well," Daryl said.

"I know. Go back inside."

"Alright."

The rest of the night was oddly quiet and Rick was relieved when Daryl came out to tell him he would continue. Rick assumed the sun would rise soon but he didn't care. He was more than ready to close his eyes and get some sleep.

When he woke up, he and Daryl began talking about moving to another place; something they thought they should have done days ago. They sat in the living room while Nicole was in the bathroom. "We should go west. Get out da forest and walk down by whatever highway until we can find a bigger place, or at least a more secure one," Daryl said. "Maybe we can find a car along the way."

"Ok," was all Rick said. Daryl shot him an odd look. Nicole then came out of the bathroom and greeted them good morning to which both men did not meet with the same greeting. "Feel better?" Rick then asked her, trying to show some concern.

"I am, yeah. What's for breakfast?" she then asked, leaving Daryl and Rick speechless. They both stared at her, Rick with disbelief in his eyes.

"I'm joking. Sorry," the girl then said, feeling embarrassed and regretting saying that.

The men did not smile or even forced a chuckle. She then came to sit on the small blue couch, next to Daryl. "We're talking about moving places. It's not an option. Just letting ya know. Since you're living with us."

"Oh," the girl said. Rick looked at her and he couldn't feel but to feel annoyed towards her. What was wrong with him, he wondered. He watched her sit there, her gaze down, rubbing her hands on her knees. She seemed nervous. "Something wrong?" he asked her.

"Um. Well…"she said. Rick watched her as the nervousness became more apparent. "Ok I need to tell you guys something. But please don't freak out," she said, her eyes avoiding Rick's.

"What is it?" Daryl asked, his brow furrowed. Rick thought he could tell what he was thinking. Nicole had been either bit or scratched.

"I think I'm pregnant," the girl said.

Rick could not tell if what he was feeling was relief or complete dismay.


	5. Weight Lift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for taking forever to write this chapter. You can blame Pokemon for that. This chapter is kind of short and well I had decided that each chapter would be as long as I could make it, but I have changed my mind. From here on, some chapters will be kind of long and some will be short. I hope you enjoy it and I will try to post the next one very soon. Thanks to whoever is reading this fic. I appreciate it. 
> 
> P.S. I wrote this chapter while listening to the song "Run" by Snow Patrol. One of my favorites. You should try listening to it too while reading it. :)

**Back to Life**

**Chapter 5: Weight Lift**

** Daryl **

Daryl sat silent as the girl sobbed next to him. He wasn't good at dealing with emotional situations, especially girls crying. He wanted to get up as he grew more uncomfortable by the girl's crying. Rick then asked her if she was sure she was pregnant. Nicole attempted to stop her whimpering as she tried to answer Rick's question and managed to say, "Yeah". The girl stifled some more and then said, "There's something else I should tell you."

Nicole's sobbing had stopped. Her eyes were red and she brushed the liquid off her eyes with her hands. "You know how I told you my group kicked me out because they thought I was just a burden? That's not what happened." Daryl's body tensed up at that and he felt his throat dry up a little. He watched Nicole's face become sadder. She then looked both sad and scared.

"The group I was in…there were fifteen total. Eleven guys and four women. We all got along just fine. We had a camp not too far from here but we were always moving; never stayed in one place more than two or three days. It wasn't safe, but we made it work. The men were in charge of keeping watch and the women took care of the cooking mostly. One night, they all drank. The women too, including myself. I didn't get drunk but the men got pretty drunk." Nicole stopped talking, then looked down at her feet. Daryl noticed her eyes started watering again.

"I was sitting by myself. I usually kept to myself. One of the guys started to walk towards me. He'd talked to me before but I didn't consider him my friend. I smelled the alcohol as soon as he opened his mouth to speak and I remember I feeling disgusted immediately. He asked me if I was having a good time. I told him I did. He then started to touch me and asked me if I liked to party hard in college. I told him I didn't. He laughed. I told him I had to go to the bathroom, which was a lie. He said he would go with me to make sure nothing happened to me. I hesitated at his offer but took it anyway, just to be cautious. Those things are just everywhere. I only had to pee but I took a while. I was trying to clear my head. When we got back to the camp, I was horrified. There were bodies on the ground and there was moaning and whimpering. At first I wasn't sure what I was looking at but then it all became clear. No one was dead and no one was moaning from pain. The women's screams were muffled by the men's hands but I could still hear them. I saw them take off their pants and I screamed at them to stop. I launched myself at one of them and I tried to pull him off the girl. He just pushed me to the side while the rest of the men just stood there and laughed. I was scared and I wanted to help my friends but I wasn't strong enough to take on any of them. After I got up, the guy I had been talking to; his name is Jim; pulled me towards him and put his disgusting lips on me. I immediately pushed him off of me and slapped him. He slapped me back and came towards me. He hit me once more, this time harder and I fell to the ground. In the next second he was on top of me and he grabbed my breasts. I tried so hard to get him off of me. I figured with all the alcohol he'd had he would just tumble to the side but he didn't. He was stronger than me. He ripped my shirt open and I bit his hand when he tried to cover my mouth to stop me from screaming. I screamed as loud as I could hoping that one of those monsters would come out of the shadows and bite any of the men standing there. But that didn't happen. I remember the guy hitting me in the head and undressing me while I was barely conscious. They all took a turn. I remember each one of their faces. Every one of them laughed as they entered me. I laid there and closed my eyes and tried not to feel anything. I wanted to die." Nicole wasn't crying anymore. She just sat there, not looking at the two men in front of her. "I didn't sleep that night. I waited for all of them to fall asleep. None of the men stayed up to keep watch. My whole body ached but I got up anyway. I knew I had to do something. At first I considered killing them all one by one but that was too risky. Then I thought about the other girls. I had to make sure they were okay. I don't know how it happened but one of them was dead. I was only to wake up one of them and told her to come with me. I told her that we just couldn't stay here but she didn't want to come with me; said we didn't have a chance out there on our own and that she was better off with them. She tried to convince me to stay and I tried to convince her to leave. As I left the camp, I thought about finding some of those zombies and luring them back to the camp and I almost went through with it if it weren't for the women. I regret leaving them but I just couldn't stay there."

If Daryl had thought he had been feeling nothing but some kind of numbness for days, he was now feeling a lot of things. He was feeling pissed and he was feeling disgust and hatred for those pieces of trash Nicole had stayed with. He wanted to beat their heads senseless and he wanted to put an arrow through their shit ass dicks with his bare hands. Rick could feel the anger coming off of Daryl. He could feel the fumes radiate from his skin. Rick looked at him but Daryl did not turn to look at him back. Rick felt bad for the girl but not as bad as Daryl. "I'm so sorry that that happened to you," was all Rick said. Nicole looked at Rick but said nothing.

"I don't want this baby," she then said. Daryl's anger was suddenly diminished and almost completely gone. "I don't want this baby," Nicole continued, "because it's not going to make it out here. It's going to die as soon as it's born, so why go through the pain." Daryl understood what she meant. Lori had gone through the predicament and although the group had tried hard to protect baby Judith, they'd failed.

"We can look for a safe place. We'll find one. We've done it before," Daryl said. Nicole's face remained blank, the look of hopelessness never leaving her. Daryl looked at Rick this time. Rick returned the look and Daryl made from it that he was angry at him for saying that.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Rick then said. He then got up and left the room.

Nicole shot Daryl a confused look. "What was that about?" she asked. Daryl didn't want to answer that. He knew damn well why Rick was angry. He almost regretted saying those words to the girl but he knew he had to say them. "Nothing. Don't worry about it," Daryl replied. "I'm going out for a walk. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just going to go lie down for a bit," she said.

It was surprisingly bright outside the little shack and it took Daryl's vision almost a whole minute to adjust. He found Rick standing in front of a tree not taller than him. Its leaves were the color leaves were when they were watered often. Daryl came to stand next to Rick. "Why did you have to say that? Can't you see how messed up she was?" Daryl spat. He knew this conversation wouldn't end up well. Rick didn't seem to flinch one bit at Daryl's remark. He just stood there, his face not angry, but not calm. Just there. It's the same look Rick had been wearing for who knows how long now.

"So we're supposed to protect her now? That the plan? Like we protected everyone else. No Daryl. I'm not doing that. You already know how this will end. You know it damn fucking well. Don't be lying to yourself trying to think otherwise. You should know by fucking now how it always ends," Rick responded, pain pouring out in his last three words.

"We tried Rick. You know we did," Daryl said.

"Well we didn't try hard enough!" Rick shouted, throwing his hands up. Daryl prepared for a punch in the face and almost closed his eyes when he noticed Rick kneeling in front of him. He couldn't help to feel shocked when he heard his cries. He looked like a wounded animal.  _Please stop,_ he thought. The crying grew louder.  _Stop._ He wanted to say it out loud but couldn't. He couldn't open his mouth and he didn't realize his own eyes were filling up with tears.  _Rick, stop._ He wanted to do anything to get him to stop. He just didn't know what. It was almost impossible for Daryl to even attempt to hug another person. But this was Rick and he knew he needed it. Daryl needed it too. He was afraid to do it. He didn't know how. It felt like an eternity since he'd hugged another human being.  _Just do it damn it. Look how much he's suffering._ It took him some courage and some thinking and then Daryl knelt down in front of Rick and with slow movements stretched one arm and placed it on Rick's shoulder. Rick's head slowly turned to face Daryl's. He looked like an old man, the kind that lived on the street searching for food in the dumpster. If anyone saw Rick right now, they would have never thought he used to be a cop. It hurt Daryl to look into this man's eyes but he couldn't look away. In them he saw everything he had seen as a kid: pain, hopelessness, loss. He saw a man that was beyond broken. Daryl had almost forgotten why he was kneeling in front of this broken man. He had been so hypnotized by Rick's brokenness. He had never seen that before. Snapping himself out of it, Daryl pulled himself into Rick and gave him the hug he needed. At first, the hug felt awkward, almost wrong. Like he didn't think he was doing it right. Then Rick pressed his body to Daryl's harder as if he was afraid to go somewhere and not come back. Daryl felt the hug start to feel different. It felt better, felt…right. Suddenly, Daryl's pain felt less; felt as though he was carrying a large heavy box filled with rocks and someone came to help him carry it. The box felt somewhat lighter. Daryl wondered if it felt the same for Rick. He hoped this was making it if not better, at least not worse.

They remained on the ground for what seemed to be minutes, neither of them letting go.


	6. Refreshed

 

 

 

** Nicole **

She sat by the window, intrigued and confused, her eyes filled with curiosity. Remembering how rude it was to stare, she stopped. She hadn't meant to do that. She'd simply wanted to walk around the shack and when she saw them, she sat down and stared through the glass. Nicole was very sure they hadn't seen her but she felt bad regardless. She'd like an intruder; no, worse; she'd felt like the nosy old lady that lived across the street. Nicole walked into her room to think about what she'd just witnessed.

She'd assumed Rick and Daryl both lost people, but something about the way they hugged…it just seemed a little odd to her.  _You're being an insensitive bitch_ , she told herself. Nicole had lost people too. All her family and friends were dead. She was lucky to be alive. She wondered how just how many people Rick and Daryl had lost but she wouldn't dare to ask.

_Brothers._

_They're brothers_.

That had to be it.

Nicole couldn't sleep that night for several reasons. It was too hot and she couldn't stop thinking about the women she'd left at her former camp. She didn't dare to ask God for forgiveness because she knew she didn't deserve it.  _I hope they're okay._

She tried hard not to think about that. She knew she had a bigger problem to deal with but she was overcome with guilt. And how could she not be. She'd practically left those women to die. The girl finally began to cry.

After doing that for a while, she decided to think about the baby she was sure was growing inside her. Just how in the world would she have this baby? Even if Daryl and Rick helped her find a safe place for that, she still needed a doctor at the very least.  _This is such bullshit. The world is dead yet I still got raped by some lowlife bastard and the thing was that no I can't get to a doctor like a woman normally would if this had happened before all of this._ The crimes were the same but access to everything else wasn't. Why couldn't it be the other way around? It wasn't fair.  _Not fucking fair at all._ "Life is never fair," her grandmother used to say. She'd lost her husband in her second year of marriage to a car crash and she never married again.

_The girl wondered how Rick would act in the morning. I can't ask them to care for me. I can't make them risk their lives for me. They don't owe me anything. I should just go. But I won't make it on my own._

She struggled with her decision, always learning towards the leaving alternative but fear always brought her back to staying with them until she wasn't able to keep her eyes open any longer.

She had no idea what time it was when she woke and then remembered that it didn't matter. After getting up her bed, she went into the small bathroom and threw up into the toilet. She swore there was nothing she hated more than the horrible feeling of contents coming out her throat by force. She hated the feeling more than cramps.

As she stepped out, feeling still nauseous, she met Daryl in the hallway that led into what she considered was the living room. The man looked messy; his hair needed washing and a trim and his face a nice bar of soap. She wondered how she looked. "Mornin'," Daryl said in his redneck tone.

"Good morning", Nicole replied.

"Fish is almost done cookin' if yer hungry," he said. Just the mention of the word 'fish' almost sent her back to the toilet to do some more purging.

"Not hungry, but thanks."

"Ya gotta eat," he demanded.

"I will. Later. I'm feeling nauseous right now," she said. She wished she had a box of saltines. She heard that helped.

"Alright," Daryl said and began to walk out.

"Daryl?" Nicole stopped him halfway. "Is Rick okay?"

Daryl stared at Nicole for a second as if not sure how to answer that. Just hearing his name had completely changed his facial expression from always-serious-looking-man to meeting-the-boy-who-asked-out-his-daughter-to-the-prom-stern-looking-father. She thought it was a bit crazy how she thought of that on the spot. Could it be the hormones? It seemed a little too early for that. Then again, she hadn't done the math ever since she'd left the camp. She'd been too busy running for her life.

"Yeah," was all he said. He then walked out.

_Well, that was odd._

Nicole went to sit on the brown couch and waited a few minutes for her nausea to go away. Still feeling very nauseous, she got up anyway and walked out to meet Daryl and Rick. She was astounded when she saw Rick. He was kneeling by the fire, holding the skillet in his hand; there was something different about him. It only took her two seconds to figure out what it was. He'd showered and shaved off the long greyish beard that had gone ungroom for weeks. He was also wearing a different shirt. It was dark green and a bit small, but he looked good in it. Rick looked good; he looked his age.

"I like your shirt," Nicole said, forming a smile.

Rick hadn't noticed the girl walked out and at first he looked confused but thanked her for the compliment. "I found it in a drawer in one of the rooms. Let's how long I can keep it blood-free." He didn't smile when he said that but she took that as a friendly remark. Rick seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday.

"Won't be too long," she replied. She thought that was a mood ruiner but she was just being realistic. She always was. Rick didn't say anything to that. "If you're going for the full groomed look, I can cut your hair if you want. I'm not a hair stylist but I used to cut my brother's and he never complained. I found some scissors in my room. If you want me too."

"Hmm," Rick said. "You should eat. We're leaving today," he added. He then took the fish out of the pan and placed it on a paper plate. She tried hard not to grimace at the fish. If it weren't for the nausea, she would have snatched the plate from his hands seconds ago. "Thanks. What do you mean we're leaving? Where to?"

"Someplace safer. We've been very lucky here but that won't last. Daryl and I talked about it and we both agreed. Today's a good day for that," Rick said. He was already putting one fish on his plate. The smell was very strong and she tried to hold her breath in for a minute. She knew she couldn't tell Rick that she didn't want the fish but she decided to make an effort to eat it.

The first was bite was almost unbearable but she swallowed it trying hard to not close her eyes. She was trying so hard for Rick not to notice this. Luckily for her he kept his eyes on his own plate. He was already halfway done when Daryl came to sit next to him. As Daryl leaned forward to reach for a fish, Rick handed him a plate with one already on it. "Thanks", he said.

They ate in silence, Nicole eating the slowest. She watched them as she chewed on a piece she had been chewing on too long. Nicole focused on their faces.  _I don't see the resemblance._

"Sumethin' wrong? Fish tastes okay?" Daryl then said, raising an eyebrow at her. She could have sworn he had been looking down at his plate the whole time he'd been eating.

"No. It tastes great," she said. Daryl's gaze remained on her. It was hard to tell whether he was annoyed or just curious. Nicole continued eating, this time keeping her eyes on her food.

Rick then stoop and said, "Before we leave, that haircut offer still up?"

"Yeah," she replied.

**Rick**

There was no way to explain how he felt after letting go of Daryl. All he knew was that he felt somewhat better. Daryl stood up and offered his hand to Rick and pulled him up as he took it. He stood there looking at Daryl and said, "Thank you".

"Don't mention it," Daryl replied.

"Rick began to think about all Daryl had done for him and the group. How many times had he had his back? He wondered if he'd secretly always been that way or if he became that person because he joined their group. One thing he was sure of. Daryl was a good man and a great friend.

"We have to do this, don't we?" Rick said. "Find her a place for to have her baby in."

"Yeah, but not just for her. For us too," Daryl replied.

Rick sighed. "Daryl I'm not ready to go out there. But, I'm willing to try. On one condition."

Daryl waited for him to say something, his face remaining serious. "What is it?"

"You lead and I'll follow. Not the other way around," Rick said in that tone that let Daryl know that he meant that.

"You got it," Daryl said, not giving his condition a second thought.

"Good," the former sheriff said, his lips almost forming a smirk.

"I think we should leave tomorrow mornin'. I'll get up early, go catch some fish. We leave right after we eat. Sound good to ya?"

"Yeah. Whatever you say," Rick replied. "I'll let Nicole know now." Rick began to make his way back to the house but stopped before reaching the door and walked back to where Daryl was standing. "Hey Daryl, why do you want to help this girl so bad?"

"It's what we do Rick."

"Look where that's gotten us," Rick scoffed.

Daryl's face saddened. He looked down at the ground beneath his feet and then looked back up at Rick. "Someone once told me that there are still good people."

"Who told you that?"

"Beth."

Rick stayed quiet. He passed by Daryl and put his hand on his shoulder for a quick second and then walked into the shack. He headed to Nicole's room and found the door ajar. Nicole was asleep.

Rick thought about the last time he'd showered. The thought came to him very unexpectedly. It was like his head had been filled with water and the water had slowly started to leak out and he could now think clearer. Only that he couldn't remember the last time he'd showered.

He went into the room and opened every drawer there was in it. He was surprised at finding clothes in them. There were various shirts and pants. A green shirt with no design on it caught his attention. He examined it for a few seconds and set it aside. Rick almost laughed when he found socks and boxer shorts under a pair of pants in the drawer. He couldn't believe it and felt excitement at thought of wearing clean underwear and socks.

He continued rummaging through another drawer and found a shaving blade. Rick got the impression that whoever had owned this place was a bit old fashioned but he didn't care. The blade would work on his long beard just fine. After finding a brown towel in another drawer, he went into the bathroom.

Rick managed to shave all the hair off his face without getting a single cut. He stared at the mirror, which had a huge crack in the middle, but he could still see his reflection. He was astonished at the man in front of him. He almost didn't recognize himself. He felt strange.

He then took off his shirt and pants and turned on the water. He found a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo by the tub. He smiled at the sight of that and stretched out his hand to feel the water. It was still ice cold and he waited a little longer for it to warm up and when it didn't, he got in the tub anyway.

As he ran the bar of soap on his back, he started thinking about his conversation with Daryl. There were things he wanted to say to him but didn't because the conversation had taken a different turn. The truth was, Rick didn't want to leave anywhere. He didn't want to go look for some place that didn't exist. But he felt like he owed Daryl, so he would do this. For him.

He almost felt bad for letting the water run for so long but it felt so good on his skin and he didn't want to stop.

He then heard a knock on the door. Daryl's voice said, "Rick you okay in there? Are ya trying to look like a diamond?"

Rick chuckled quietly. "I'm fine. I'll be out soon. Don't worry," he replied.

"Good. 'Cause I'm next. So don't finish up the water," Daryl said.

_I may not be okay right now but I will do my best to help you. I will do this for you,_ he thought to himself. He then shut the water off and stepped out of the tub feeling refreshed for the first time in weeks.

 


	7. Empty

**Back to Life**

 

**Chapter 7: Empty**

** Rick **

”Well, what do you think?”, Nicole asked, handing the mirror to Rick as he sat on the worn down wooden chair. He thought she’d been working on his hair a little too long; he’d expected a quick trim, not the full haircut, but when he saw himself in the mirror, he smiled. The long curls were all gone. “You’ve got nice hair Rick. All you need is some conditioner and it would look just perfect”, the girl commented. He inspected the sides and the back of his head, then handed back the mirror to the girl. “Yeah I don’t care how it looks. As long as it’s short,” he replied bitterly. As soon as he said, he realized that it came off sounding a little harsh. “I’m sorry. I like the haircut. Thank you,” he said in a kinder voice.

“No problem”, Nicole said, then smiled. He then got up and caught Daryl standing in the hallway, leaning against the white colored wall. “What do you think?” Rick asked him. Daryl’s eyes widened a bit and said, “who the hell are you?” Rick laughed. “Looks good man,” he added.

Daryl was next to get his hair cut and Rick said, “I’ll go make sure things are ready”, then walked into the living room.

The bags were set on the table and he opened each one to check their contents. Each bag had at least three bottles of water and some canned food. Rick knew this wouldn't be enough for a week and that they would have to find a place that wasn't too rummaged up and see if they could find any supplies. He wondered which direction they would walk since Daryl hadn't talked to him about that.

He grabbed his handgun from his holster and checked how many bullets it had in it. Six. “Damn”, he muttered. Rick knew he would have to use them really wisely.

He noticed Daryl’s crossbow resting on the table next to his bag. He wondered how the redneck came to own a weapon as this one. Then he realized that Daryl had been a hunter since before he met him. Rick also wondered if Daryl had had other interests besides hunting animals. He then heard footsteps coming from the hallway and met Daryl’s gaze. The hunter’s long hair was completely gone. “I gotta say, I liked the long hair look,” Rick joked.

“Yeah?”

Rick nodded and Daryl smirked a bit. “I did too,” Nicole said, walking into the room.

“You guys ready to go?” Rick asked.

 

\----------****----------

 

They walked west for a long period of time and then stopped for a short while for Nicole to rest momentarily. She’d been walking in the middle with Daryl in the front and Rick in the back. Rick had taken ahold of Nicole’s spear when both he and Daryl decided that she shouldn't risk killing walkers on her own anymore. The girl had protested against that, saying that she should help out but gave in to the being pregnant logic. She needed to be cautious more than ever.

Rick noticed her silence but doubted it was because she was upset. They were only trying to keep her safe; she had to understand that. In the corner of his eye, he saw Daryl step forward with his crossbow in attack mode and Rick did the same with the spear. The redneck motioned them to keep quiet by holding up his index finger and bringing it to his lips. They then heard the footsteps dragging across the leaf-covered ground. “Oh shit. There’s too many. Run now!” Daryl whispered loudly, knowing shouting would only complicate the situation.

An arrow was sent flying to the closest walker while Rick and Nicole ran together in the opposite direction. As he ran, Rick turned his head to make sure Daryl was right behind him and felt relief when he saw him running a few yards behind them.

They stopped running when they thought they’d put up some distance away from them. “How many were there?” Rick asked, not having a chance to really look at them. He was bent in a way that both of his palms rested on his knees while he tried to catch his breath.

“Looked like more than ten. We needa get going. We’ll go around this way”, Daryl said, pointing his finger southeast.

They encountered three more walkers and this time Rick killed one of them. The spear wasn’t as efficient as his gun but it kept distance between him and the undead creature and did not make a loud sound like the handgun. After another two miles of walking, they were finally out of the forest.

The road in front of them was completely empty of life and death. There was not even a building or house in sight. As if reading Rick’s thoughts, Daryl said, “we needa find a car. Just because it’s lonely here don’t mean we’re safe next to the forest.” Rick mentally agreed with him. Despite the haircut, Daryl’s head had already become wet with sweat and his cleaned up face was beginning to look dirty.

“Which way now?” Nicole said, finally breaking her silence.

“This way,” Daryl said walking south.

After walking almost a mile, they found a sign on the side of the road that read “Kent Gardens – in 2 miles”. Rick felt like it might be a death mission to enter that town but waited on Daryl to say something since he was the one making the decisions. He watched Daryl stood in front of the sign and remained there as if contemplating whether it would be good to go there.

“It’s risky”, he said as he turned around to face his companions “There could be anything there. A car maybe. Or just walkers. Maybe people”, he said, his face looking concerned at the last word.

“If we do go, how would we do this, if it’s overrun?” What Rick was really trying to say how they would do that while have to keep Nicole safe. If they all had guns, they would maybe be able to do this but all they had was a crossbow, a spear, and six bullets. It wasn’t enough.

Daryl remained quiet at that and looked thoughtful. “I can help”, said Nicole. Daryl and Rick stared at her in disapproval. “I can. Please let me. There could be anything there, like you said. Or nothing. It’s a risk we have to take,” she insisted.

“She has a point”, said Daryl, his hand on his chin. “Ok fine. But you have to do as we say. We be really careful and if things go wrong, you run. You don’t stop running and we meet here by the sign. If me or Rick don’t make it back in ten minutes, you run away from here. Rick will give you your spear but don’t kill unless you think you can do it. Let Rick and me do all the work. Got it?” Nicole nodded in agreement.

Rick became nervous as they began their walk to the unknown town. He tried to distract his mind knowing that he needed to prepare himself mentally for possible running and killing who knows what. After this for so long, he still hadn’t gotten used to it; the killing and the running; in fact, he hated it. He hated it a lot.

He tried to focus his thoughts on anything that would calm his nerves and it took him a couple of seconds to find his distraction. The thought came to him as his eyes were pulled to a beautiful orange-colored flower resting on its bud. The plant stood on the right side of the road with the flower sticking out, curved in a way that seemed inviting, for a stranger to take it. For a short moment, he was mesmerized by its beauty. He then looked at the green plants around the beautiful flower and the whole vicinity. There were so many of them and their green color radiated like fire in the dark. How was it that in a world so ugly and sad, so dark and empty, there was still some beauty in some places? How was there still color in this gray world? _There isn’t. It’s just a stupid flower. Stupid plants,_ he told himself.

“It’s called a Dward Pomegranate”, the girl’s voice said next to his ear.

“What?” he said confused.

“The flower. That’s what it’s called. I’ve seen it before, so I looked up its name.”

“Oh”, Rick replied, feeling as though she’d intruded into his thoughts but he wasn’t annoyed. “It’s beautiful”, Nicole added, her face looking calm. He was surprised at how calm she looked considering where they were walking to. Rick also wondered what she was thinking but did not feel like asking. “Yeah”, was all he responded. He knew she was just trying to lighten up the mood but he preferred to be lost in his thoughts.

After walking for what felt like twenty minutes, Daryl said, “I see it”, to which Rick then felt a weird feeling in his stomach.

“I’ll run ahead but I’ll stay close to you guys”, Daryl stated as he did just that. Rick only began walking a little faster to keep up; Nicole did the same.

There was no walker in sight as they entered the town. Various buildings and some homes stood on both sides of the road they were on. Rick looked for a car ad spotted a few; they all looked battered; windows broken, doors open, and one of them was even missing a tire. He watched as Daryl headed for a black Nissan and followed after him. He hurried towards him to tell him to hold up on trying to turn it on so they could go look for some supplies first, but as he finished his sentence, he heard the growling coming from one of the houses close to the parked car. Rick stood there, looking ahead in the direction the growling came from, but saw no walkers. _Must be inside the house,_ he thought.

“Too risky Rick. With Nicole with us”, Daryl said, his eyes already looking pumped with adrenaline. He knew he was right. His eyes then scanned the area for a building that could be worth checking out and spotted a building smaller than a Walmart less than two blocks away.

“I see something. Let’s check it out. We need food”, Rick said with an edge of demand in his tone. “The three of us go together. We’ll be careful. We’ll run back into the forest if there’s too many of them. Although by the looks of things, this place seems far from overrun. It’s almost deserted even.” He waited for Daryl’s response and he expected him to say no but the redneck agreed to the risky suggestion.

“Let’s go”, he said, motioning to Nicole to follow.

They walked straight down the empty street, always looking left and right at the buildings for any movement. Some of them had broken windows and some looked intact. There was no walker on sight other than the ones they’d heard growling from inside the house close to the car. That was odd to Rick and he kind of wanted to go to the house and see why the growling was only coming from there. He’d expected this town to have at least a few of them and he didn’t feel safe with the place proving so empty. _Not a single walker. We can’t be that lucky._

When they reached the building, Rick could see all the broken glass on the floor. The building’s walls were painted black and the letters above the glass doors read “Smart Buy” in blue. Daryl walked towards the door, pointing his crossbow side to side, then tried pushing the door and swung it open.

Rick rushed to stand by Daryl and was disappointed to find the place almost empty. Big shelves  were scattered on the floor along with various store goods which were mostly items that they didn’t need desperately. He scanned for any items that would prove useful but all he saw were home supplies, cosmetics, books and magazines, toys, some electronics, etc. He couldn’t see any food though.

They walked in further into the building, both men vigilant with their weapons, Nicole keeping close. Nicole covered her mouth in shock as she saw the blood splattered across white floor. It followed in a long trail down the corridor to a door that read “Employees only”. She moved to the side to not step on it.

“Let’s grab whatever is good to take. Don’t try to make your bag so heavy you can’t run either”, Rick whispered. He knew that even though there were no walkers in view, it was better to be quiet and safe than sorry.

The only food Rick was able to find were a couple of granola bars, three jars of peanut butter, a box of chocolate mini donuts, and two boxes of saltines. _Is this it? Damn it._ The place had been obviously been looted a few times by whoever had passed by. Rick’s eyes looked for Daryl but couldn’t see him. He tried not to worry and continued searching the shelves. He then tapped Nicole’s shoulder and her face lightened up when she saw the box of saltines in his hand.

They continued walking along the aisle and found three boxes of cereal on the floor. As Nicole over to pick up one of the boxes, she saw what looked to be a small bag of marshmallows. She got up and started walking to where it was. She then saw the trail of blood again and stopped on her heel. She stared at the door that was for employees and grew fearsome. Piqued with sudden interested, she walked forward to the door and stood only inches away from it.

“What are you doing?” Rick’s voice said and she let out a loud scream that she didn’t intend and regretted immediately. Rick stared at her in astonishment and cursed under his breath. He stood there, hoping whatever was behind the door, if anything, did not hear but he knew that wasn’t possible. “Get away from the door”, he demanded and as she did that, they were startled by the loud banging that came crashing on the closed door. The banging became stronger and louder and Daryl came running to stand behind Rick and Nicole. “Let’s go!” he yelled but as his words came out, the door broke open and out came the walkers.

They ran down the corridor they’d walked on when they entered and went out the door. How the hell was Daryl supposed to start a car up now? Rick thought. _Fuck._

He couldn’t count how many there were as he ran because he was focusing on Nicole running in front of him. _I’m going to have to shoot some to give Daryl a chance._ Rick stopped running and held up his gun and in a breeze, took aim and pulled the trigger. As he pointed his gun at the next moving target, an arrow beat him to it and sent the walker to the ground. The two men shared a quick glance and Daryl retrieved another arrow and put it in his bow then shot it. They continued doing that until there was only walker left and Rick watched as Nicole ran towards it and struck it with her spear. He hadn’t realized that he’d dropped the spear in the midst of all this when he used his gun. When she removed the spear off the walker’s head, she said, “I’m so sorry Rick. I didn’t mean to scream,” and the two men stared at her in shock. Rick was angry at her but decided to let it go and focus on getting back to starting up a car and getting the hell out of this place.

“There might be more. They’ll follow the gunshots”, he said, turning to Daryl as if telling him exactly what to do without saying it. Daryl began sprinting towards the black Nissan and they followed after him when they more walkers coming out of the house close to the parked vehicle.

“Fucking shit”, Rick heard Daryl say and did a quick head count and counted eleven.

Rick didn’t know what to do and he felt the panic invade his whole body. He knew whatever direction they ran they might encounter more of them and get trapped by them somehow.

“We have to get the car”, Daryl shouted as he stepped forward and shot an arrow through a walker. Rick couldn’t help to admire how perfect his aim was every time. He stood there and hesitated on firing his gun but knew he had to help Daryl. “We take them out and head straight for the car”, Rick shouted, then ran forward to take better aim and fired his gun. Another walker slumped onto the grave and he forgot about Nicole. “Stay back!” he commanded, firing another shot. He cursed knowing the gunshots were going to bring even more walkers. Nicole hesitated at trying to take a walker down with her spear, so she stayed back and looked around to alert her companions of any incoming zombies.

Using his last bullet, Rick watched as the one-eyed missing walker fell to the ground. Daryl ran to the dead once again corpses and retrieved every arrow from their lifeless skulls. Rick and Nicole stood out by the car as the redneck headed into the car and messed with its wires. “Almost got it”, he said as Rick’s heart continued to beat fast from the never ending adrenaline.

The loud sound of the car roaring to life almost startled him and he ran to open the passenger’s door afraid that something else might happen if they didn’t leave now. They sat in the car, all three trying to catch their breath from the running and adrenaline and Daryl stepped on the gas pedal and drove down the gravel, then stopped the car abruptly.

A woman stood in the middle of the street, blood covering her face and clothes and Rick tried to figure out if it was another walker as she just stood there not taking a single step forward. She looked straight at them, eyes unblinking. Rick felt the alert lights go off in the back of his head and grabbed his bullet-less weapon. He then turned to see his friend, the expression of robbed of him; his eyes wide with confusion. “Hey”, Rick told him but he didn’t reply. “Hey”, he repeated and got no answer. Rick was so focused on Daryl’s odd behavior that he didn’t notice the woman right next to the driver’s seat window.

“Daryl?” the woman’s voice said as he rolled down the window.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could this mystery woman be? Oh my gerd. Stay tuned for next chapter which will be titled "The Easy Way Out".  
> Thanks for reading. Comments and criticism is always welcome :)


	8. The Easy Way Out

 

Daryl

His eyes couldn’t believe who they were looking at. It was almost like looking at a ghost, except that she hadn’t died. She had simply disappeared.

“Veronica? What…what are you doing here?” Daryl asked the woman, his voice sounded fearful. As the woman opened her mouth to respond, Rick interrupted and said, “We have to go. Now.”

Daryl turned to look at him and his eyes then saw the walkers in the background slowly coming out of the shadows. “Shit. Get in,” he said looking at the woman.

“Daryl,” Rick then said. The redneck caught the caution in his voice. “Wait,” Daryl said, then stepped out of the car. Before the girl could realize what Daryl was doing, his hands were searching her body. “She’s good,” he said loud enough that even Nicole heard. “Ride in the back with Nicole.” Rick then got out of the car and did as Daryl said as the woman stood there unmoving and confused. “Wha-what’s going on?” she managed to say, the fear in her body settling in as the growling from the background grew louder in their ears.

“Get on!” Daryl shouted exasperatedly. “Come on!”

The woman ran to the passenger’s seat and Daryl stepped on the pedal, leaving the walkers behind.

 

\----------****----------

 

 “You okay?” he asked, breaking the silence as they drove under the tall trees. The woman didn’t respond.

There were a hundred questions going through his dead but he felt like they would have to wait. “We thought the place was empty. Where did you come from?” He waited for a response but the woman remained silent. She just sat there, staring down at her blood-covered hands. “Were you hiding somewhere? Why are you covered in blood?” He then realized the more important question he should be asking. “Were you bit?” he asked, already feeling very concerned for the woman.

“No,” the woman replied.

It was strange how days ago he had been robbed of all his emotions but right now he was feeling relief; one of the feelings he was actually grateful he could still feel.

“Here,” Nicole said, handing the woman a water bottle. She looked at Nicole, her eyes untrusting, but she took the bottle with a shaky hand and drank it until there was no more liquid in the container. “I’m sorry,” she then said, turning her head a little, just enough so that Nicole could see her. “Don’t be,” Nicole said, her face friendly. “I’m Nicole. And this is Rick,” she added.

“Veronica,” the woman replied.

 

He tried to think of the last time he’d seen her as he drove. It had been more than five years. She’d disappeared without saying a word to him and he’d thought about her everyday ever since she left, for a very long time. And now she was here. Veronica had been the first woman Daryl had ever become comfortable enough to drop his guard and show his softer side to. He’d confided in her things not even his brother Merle knew and he would talk to her about what he wished his life was really like. Daryl had known that what they had had was not a relationship. Veronica had a boyfriend in the army and he respected that. He’d always wondered what it would be like to actually be with her; to have the real thing, but he was content with what he had. Until the day she had left. He grew to resent her and he decided that he would never drop his guard like that to another woman ever again.

_Shit. Where the hell am I going to anyway?_ He looked at the gas meter and saw that it was almost on the empty bar. _Shit._ _If only we still had the prison._

He knew the search for a safe place would be difficult but he also knew that there was no day that wasn’t. Life itself had been difficult. This was just another day. Daryl thought about the prison again. He wondered if there was a way to make it safe again. It probably could, if the group was bigger.

Daryl caught a glimpse of Rick’s gaze through the mirror. His blue eyes were starting right at him. They were serious but somehow Daryl could see that Rick wanted to know who this woman was. He shot him a look of reassurance that said that he would explain later. He knew Rick would understand the look. He usually did.

As the redneck continued driving straight, not knowing where to go, his frustration began taking over. He knew in that moment he had to get out of there. “I needa take a piss,” he said as he stepped on the brake abruptly. He stepped out of the car and walked past the bushes on the left side and walked further than he normally would. He continued walking and then remembered that he’d left his crossbow back there. His was knife was in his left pocket so he didn’t become alarmed. _What the hell am I doing?_ he thought to himself, bringing his hands to the back of his head. The sun began to feel warm on his skin and the air coming off the greenery felt good making its way into his nostrils. Without thinking about it, he let himself relax and sat on the leaf covered ground.

_I should get back_ , he thought but he wanted to continue staying there. He didn’t want to worry about protecting Nicole, or Veronica, nor he wanted to worry about looking for a safe place and he didn’t want to think about having to find more gas for the car. He didn’t want to be leader for a few minutes. He just wanted to sit there and not worry about anything. Like he did in his old life.

There were footsteps approaching and he got on his feet hastily and took out his knife, ready for attack. Daryl felt relief and lowered his weapon at the figure coming into view.   
“Daryl, what are you doing?” Rick asked, surprised to find him standing there.

“Rick, I-“ the man said, not wanting to tell him what was on his mind. He feared his reaction and he felt powerless standing here and making Rick having to come find him. “I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I can keep ‘er safe. Everywhere we go, something always happens and I always feel like it’s my fault. Because I fail to protect anyone. I can’t deal with the guilt Rick. I don’t want to. I already feel like shit knowing I’m gonna tell her this.”

Rick looked at Daryl and couldn’t help to feel pity for him. But it was more than that. He felt his hurt and he shared the guilt. It was true that their attempts to find a safe place and protect the ones they cared about always ended in failure somehow. He could see Daryl’s faith had also died and he didn’t know what to say to him that would make him feel better. They stood there in silence, Daryl’s head bowing down; he looked defeated. Rick walked towards him and placed his hand on Daryl’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out,” he told him, his voice tired; tired of the life they both had been forced to live. “Come on,” Rick said, and they walked back to the car.

After insisting, he let Rick drive and he sat in the back with Nicole. The thoughts in his head drove him insane and he wished he could make them stop but he couldn’t. He thought about his brother, how he wished he could have saved him somehow. _I deserve this guilt. I deserve it. What the hell was I thinking telling Rick that I could do this when I couldn’t keep Carol safe, when I couldn’t keep Beth safe. I’m a pathetic good for nothing. Just like I always been. They should have lived, not me._

He caught Rick staring at him through the mirror and Daryl turned to the window so he wouldn’t see his watery eyes.

 

\----------****----------

“Daryl wake up,” he heard a voice say. It was Nicole’s. He opened his eyes and almost jolted up in his seat. “You okay?” she asked concerned. He nodded. He didn’t know why he had reacted that way. He didn’t even know he had fallen asleep. “Car’s out of gas,” she said as she leaned forward and grabbed her backpack. “Come on,” she said, opening the car door and exiting. Daryl got out of the car and found Rick standing more than twenty feet away. “Hey,” Daryl told him as he came to stand by him.

“We’re out of gas,” Rick told him. “I say we walk on foot and see if we can find another car.”

“Alright,” Daryl replied, feeling the disappointment from his earlier mood resurfacing.

They walked in the heat, Rick in the lead, Nicole behind him, and Daryl and Veronica a few feet behind them. “You gonna tell me what happened to you?” he asked her in his usual Dixon-rude like voice. He was very curious and thought this was a way to distract himself from his own head.

Veronica turned to look at him, thinking how he hadn’t changed much since she last saw him. “I don’t know if now’s the time for that. We should be alert,” she said, a hint of seriousness in her voice.

“Now’sa good time,” he said and Veronica knew that he wouldn’t drop it. She sighed. “I was with a group,” she began. “There were five of us. We’d been going from place to place, always running. Our car ran out of gas somewhere and we found that town you were at. Michael, our leader, he lost it; went insane. He started telling the group that we should just stop what we were doing; stop the running, looking for food. He said he was tired of it and that he just couldn’t do it anymore. He convinced the group to just up completely. He really got into our heads one day, including mine. He gave us a gun each and we all agreed to pull the trigger to our temple at the same time, only that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it Daryl. I thought I could, I thought, this could end right here. I don’t have to run for my life anymore. I wanted to do it. But I just couldn’t do it.” Veronica burst into tears and Daryl as if by old habit, or instinct, took her in his arms to comfort her. He felt odd holding the woman who he’d once developed feeling for. He then saw Rick and Nicole turn around to see what was going on. They both began to walk towards them, Nicole walking faster than Rick. She moved her mouth as if to say something but pursed her lips instead to not intrude.

“I can still see their faces,” Veronica said, pulling her face up from Daryl’s chest and wiped her eyes with her hand. “I see the gun. And I see their faces, drained of life, of hope.” Nicole touched her shoulder lightly to show sympathy.

 

He knew saying “it’s okay” to provide her comfort was a dumb thing to say so he just didn’t say anything and stayed by her side. For a moment, Daryl too a long look at the woman he’d met years ago. She looked the same, but different. Her hair was dark and shoulder length, her face was plain, like he remembers, but aged; her figure malnourished. She had been average on the looks department and he thought she was one of those women that looked better with some make up here and there but Daryl hadn’t cared.

As they walked on the straight path for a while, Daryl thought about his old life. His whole life had been a struggle and this was no different. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was tired of it. He thought that if God was real, why hadn’t he been compassionate to him? Why couldn’t he? Did he not deserve it?

Daryl’s thoughts were interrupted by an unknown voice that came from behind. “Do not fucking move,” the man’s voice said and Daryl froze in his step. “Weapons on the ground now. Or we’ll shoot,” another voice said that seemed to come from the direction where Rick stood. “Now!” the male voice demanded. Daryl lowered his crossbow on the ground and watched as Rick did the same with his gun and Nicole with her spear.

“That better be all or else we shoot the two girls,” the voice said, the one that came from behind Daryl.

“It is,” Rick assured them and said nothing else.

Two men came out from the vicinity from opposite sides. They were both pointing their guns at Rick and Nicole. One of the men stood by Rick and picked up his gun. He then checked it and said, “empty.”

“Well, well, look who we managed to find. It’s our lucky day boys,” the other man said as he approached Nicole. He was sturdy and bald. Nicole trembled as the man ran a hand through her hair.

“Leave her alone,” Rick said, anger spilling out like hot water.

“Nice crossbow,” another man said as he came to stand next to Daryl. This man was built and was the cleanest looking out of the other two. He had the “friendly neighbor” kind of look and Daryl wondered if he’d been just that once as he watched him hold his bow.

“We mean no trouble to you,” the first voice Daryl had heard said and the man came into view. He was blond and average built. Daryl could see the few missing teeth from watching him speak.

“What the hell do ya want then?” Daryl spat. He was tired of all these people ganging up on him and Rick every time they were on the road.

“We want her,” the blond man said, his finger pointing straight at Nicole. “That’s all. You guys can leave. We ain’t got beef with you,” he finished, in a friendlier tone.

“Can’t let you do that. She’s part of our group,” Daryl replied. He already knew this was going in the worse direction and was hoping that Rick would have a plan by now but he knew deep down that there just wasn’t a way out of this one.

The blond man laughed. “We’re trying to reason with you boy. We’re giving you an offer. Walk away with your lives. Take it. Don’t be stupid.”

Just as Daryl was about to reply to that, Rick said, “What do you want her for?”

The men’s attention were all turned to him. The one standing by Nicole said, “We’re gonna make her pay,” and smirked while looking right at her.

“You mean you’re going to kill her?” Rick said. _What the hell are you doing Rick?_

“Yeah. That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” the sturdy man said.

“You would kill a pregnant woman?” Rick said, his voice level.

The men all looked at each other in shock. “He’s bluffing,” the man standing by Rick said a moment later. He was standing so close to Rick that he could feel the foul breath coming out of his mouth on him. “Tell them,” Rick said, turning his gaze to Nicole.

“That true?” the sturdy man asked.

Terrified to speak, Nicole nodded in agreement. Daryl could see her body shaking with fear from where he stood.

“That means…” the built man started to say as he walked forward.

“It don’t matter. The father could be dead for all we know. There’s no way of knowing. Bitch’s gotta pay,” the blond said and he walked towards Rick and stood right in front of him. “Leave. Now,” he said, his voice menacing.

Rick looked right at him with no fear in his eyes. Only anger. “No,” he said a moment later.

“No?” the man said, bringing his face to Rick’s. Rick remained like a statue. Don’t do it Rick, Daryl thought.

“You are just fucking stupid then,” the man said, then laughed. “Take her,” he then said more serious.

The sturdy man and his companion grabbed Nicole by the arm and dragged her as she resisted their attempts. “No! Let go! No!” she screamed loudly.

Daryl watched in awe as Nicole was being taken who knows here. _No. Not again. Please._ The memories of that terrible place, memories he’d tried hard to suppress came back as they crawled out of a hidden grave in an old cemetery, like a walker’s hand coming out from under the soiled ground. The place where he’d lost his family. He saw Carol, and Beth, being stabbed repeatedly, until their bodies became lifeless. Glenn and Maggie running together as bullets flew besides them, entering their chests and collapsing them to the floor, their hands holding the other’s in their last moments. He saw Rick running to hold Carl’s dying body. He could see everything so clearly, every detail as vivid as the woods standing around him. He felt like he couldn’t breathe and he fell to his knees, unable to cope with the memories torturing him from inside. He heard a voice tell him something but it just sounded like a muffled echo in his ears. His vision became blurry and he could see a face in front of him. The face was distorted and tarrying but familiar. He then felt a blow to his head and fell to the ground.

There was a gunshot and when he opened his eyes, he saw Rick kneeling by him, his hand grabbing Daryl’s arm, lifting him up. “Run!” his voice said.

Daryl did just that as he got on his feet and saw the herd of walkers yards away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being updating this every two decades. I was having personal issues which added to my writer's block. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think. Comments and criticism is appreciated.


	9. Bullshit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter is finally here! lol. I apologize for taking months to update to those who have been checking for a new chapter. I had kind of given up on this story because so much stuff just happened but I decided that I am going to finish it so don't worry. Anyway this chapter is a bit shorter but that's the way I chose to write it, so yeah. Hope you guys like it. I know I did. Let me know what you think of it!

**Back to Life**

 

**Chapter 9: Bullshit**

Rick

Rick ignored the pain located posterior to his knee as he and Daryl sprinted through the forest. He slowed down for a quick second to glance behind and found the walkers far off their tracks. The pain below his left thigh increased in discomfort and he was forced to stop his running. He groaned as the pain burned his muscle. “Fuck,” he cursed and felt a small relieving sensation at the word exiting his mouth, like a fragment of his thigh’s pain traveling out through his vascular system into the cool air outside.

“What is it?” Daryl asked, his voice of a defeated warrior. He looked just as tired as Rick and there was some blood running down his forehead. “I’m getting old,” Rick answered. He wanted to chuckled at that but decided not to. He knew Daryl damn well. He knew the man felt like shit.

“You ain’t hurt?” he asked, his face serious but concerning.

“No, but you are,” Rick suddenly became very concerned. He wanted to get up from the ground but the fear of the pain increasing kept him put.

“I’ll be fine,” the redneck answered. Rick believed him.

They stayed there for a few minutes waiting for Rick’s leg to feel better and he explained to Daryl how Veronica ran off into the woods during the herd intervention. “We’re lucky that herd was coming our way. Otherwise I don’t know if we would have made it out alive,” Rick said. He then slowly bent his leg and found the pain to have alleviated.

“Yeah we are real lucky. We are _always_ so damn lucky,” he spat, the anger coming out of him and fusing into the cool air around him.

“Hey, we’ll get them back,” Rick said looking at Daryl but not having his eyes met in return. He watched as Daryl sat there, not moving; no sign of breathing; like a statue, only his eyes looked faintly vivid. He knew what the man was thinking and  he found it a little odd that he knew exactly what it was because he knew Daryl too well or maybe it was because he was thinking the same thing or maybe it was both. Just as Rick was about to stand up and tell him that they should get going, Daryl said, “It’s fucking bullshit.”

Rick wasn’t too surprised at hearing him say that but he was still a little astonished nonetheless.

“I didn’t ask for this. Nicole. And now Veronica. All these people that just get close to me and before this, before all the fucking walking corpses, they would just leave on their own, but now, now they just get taken from me. It’s almost like a sick joke Rick. And I’m sick of it. It’s bullshit! Fucking bullshit!”

Rick swore he felt a sharp pain stab him in the chest. It hurt him to see Daryl like this. The sad part was that he agreed with everything he’d said. It was unfair and it was bullshit. He didn’t know what to say so he just stayed quiet.

“Rick?” Daryl then said dropping almost unexpectedly in Rick’s deep thought. Rick didn’t respond but only looked at him and waited for what he wanted to say.

“Do you think we deserve this? Honestly, do ya think we do? I don’t think you do and a small part of me feels like I don’t either,” the vulnerable archer said. Rick realized at this moment that he had never had a talk like this with Daryl or anyone else, not even Lori. He thought hard about this because he wanted to give an answer that would make him feel better. He didn’t like seeing a weakened Daryl and he knew that the longer they stayed here sulking in their misery, the lower the chances would be of finding Nicole. The thing was that Rick couldn’t think of an answer other than no, he didn’t think they both deserved any of this.

“Then why does this happen?” he raised his voiced, a pint of anger visible in his words.

“I don’t know,” Rick said simply. He wished he did. “Daryl, we have to go.” He felt he’d said that to him too many times now.

Daryl looked almost hesitant to get up as he forced his legs off the cold dirt beneath him.

They decided to walk back west to where they’d been ambushed by those men who took Nicole but took a detour route to avoid the herd of walkers. The discomfort in Rick’s left leg came back as they walked through a darker area surrounded by tall green grass. He tried hard to ignore the pain. This wasn’t the time to take another break. Rick decided to distract himself from the feeling on his muscle by bringing up one thing he had in the back of his mind. He was curious to ask Daryl something, something that he found kind of awkward to even be thinking about at a time like this, but his curiosity grew desperately by the minute.

Unsure if he could actually ask Daryl the intriguing question, he went for it. “Did you love her?  
 He could have sworn he’d felt a warm sensation on his forehead.

“Uh?” Daryl said, obviously confused by the sudden question.

Rick regretted asking soon after that and felt like an idiot for even thinking about something like that right now. With even more reluctance in his throat, he managed the word: “Veronica”.

“Daryl who was walking in front of him seemed to almost have slowed down if at least by a quarter of a second at the mention of that name. Daryl wanted to ask why he wanted to know but decided to be straight forward instead. “I did, yeah. A very long time ago.”

“Ah”, Rick answered and felt dumb for saying that. “What happened?” He knew he was pushing it now but his curiosity was stronger than his will to not inquire about Daryl’s love life. He could hear Daryl let out a small sigh, barely audible.

“We were young. I was a loser and she had a man in the army. She hardly ever saw him but I knew she loved him. She never cheated on him. One day I just didn’t see her anymore. She ran off to who knows where without tellin’ me nothin’,”Daryl explained, both sad and angry. Rick couldn’t understand why someone would do that to anyone, especially Daryl; leave without an explanation but he could relate to that feeling of abandonment in a sense. He’d felt Lori had abandoned him in a way. But that had been forgiven long ago. He thought Daryl hadn’t forgiven Veronica but he wasn’t sure of that. Somehow Rick continued to ponder about Daryl’s heartbreak when they both heard crunching of grass for a mere moment then heard nothing. Rick knew immediately that it was a person even though there was not a face anywhere in the vicinity.

Daryl remained rooted to the ground like a sniper waiting for the right moment to go for the kill as soon as there was a target to shoot. They remained still and waited for whoever it was to appear but nothing happened and Rick grew impatient and felt like screaming at whoever it was. _What’s happening to me? I need to control myself._ Somewhere in his mind he imagined a vague scene of Daryl going to Veronica’s house everyday hoping she was there. He felt himself gritting his teeth.

 _What do we do?_ He wanted to whisper to his companion. He felt so useless without a gun.

A figure then stepped forward with slow and cautious movements and Daryl lowered his crossbow. It was Veronica.

Even though Rick had thought seeing her would be a great relief, he found himself feeling a strange sense of aversion.

 


	10. Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok here is a new chapter! Ok so this chapter is probably shorter than the last one and I apologize for that. I'm just busy at the moment dealing with moving to another place. But I just wanted to leave you guys with a little something. I'm not too proud of this chapter but do let me know what you think. I promise next chapter will be more action packed. And you can interpret that whatever way you want ha.

**Back to Life**

 

**Chapter 10: Tension**

** Daryl **

His eyes sparkled with relief at the sight of the woman appearing before him. “Daryl,” the woman shouted as she proceeded to put her arms around him. Even though he was relieved to know that she was still alive, her body felt awkward pressed against his. He didn’t know why. He felt Veronica’s embrace become tighter as he thought of this. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said, her voice a calmer one.

“You alright?” he asked her, out of habit. It was more of an automatic reflex, like the way a person immediately covers their eyes at the sight of bright light after spending a long time inside a dark room. Veronica nodded.

“I know where they took her,” she then said and Daryl’s pulse increased. “I followed them,” she continued. “Thank God they didn’t see me. They were too busy trying to lose all those biters.”

Daryl then looked at Rick. The man didn’t seen thrilled at the news. Daryl wondered why he looked so serious.

“Let’s go now. We’ll catch ‘em in the dark.” Daryl then said, kind of hoping for a more lively reaction from his friend. Rick remained emotionless. Daryl was confused.

“You alright?” he asked him as they walked through the everlasting greenery. He wasn’t used to asking this to another man then felt stupid for thinking that. This was Rick.

“I’m fine,” Rick replied. Daryl didn’t believe him.

 

** Rick **

 

He spent the whole way thinking about why reuniting with Veronica had put him in a foul mood. Shouldn’t it have had the opposite effect? It’s not like Rick had hoped she had died or something but her presence had brought about some unexplainable disgruntle and that worried him. Rick thought about this thoroughly and came to the conclusion that he simply disliked Veronica because he had left Daryl without saying anything and although that was years ago, here she was. That bothered him.

He decided to distract his thoughts from that and just accept that so he could focus on the main task. Veronica then said, “It’s about a mile more from here,” as she looked into the distance, squinting her eyes a bit as if that would allow her to see further down into the forest. Rick observed her for a moment and tried to figure out if she had beauty and thought she lacked it. He smirked without meaning to then caught Daryl staring at him. His smirk disappeared right after that.

The sun began to set as they discussed their next course of action. The cool air sent a shiver down Rick’s back and he figured that the night would be chilly. He had trouble understanding Daryl’s plan as his eyes started feeling heavy with each passing second. He hadn’t felt this exhausted since those long shifts as an officer back in the old days. _I’m getting old_ , he thought, then was disrupted by Daryl’s hoarse redneck voice. “Yeah?” he responded feeling like a high school student that had gotten caught taking a nap by a teacher.

“You listening?” Daryl asked, his eyes observing and cautious.

“Can you just repeat the last part?” Rick replied. He felt his face quickly become hot with embarrassment. He couldn’t believe his level of distraction in these circumstances.

Daryl continued staring at him, this time his eyes seemed displeased. “I kill the look out that’s going to be outside. There has to be a guard keeping them safe. You and Veronica go through the back and check the area for some kind of entrance without making a ruckus. Did you get that?” he said annoyed.

Rick only nodded at that. He was not happy that he had to be alone with Veronica even to do this. They continued walking soon after, his tired eyes barely able to see in the inevitable darkness falling upon them. He saw Veronica trying to keep up the same pace as Daryl who was in the front. Even in the dark, he could see the angel wings on the back of his shadowy figure.

It was hard for him to step on the dirt without stepping on something that might create loud crunching and he wished he was wearing tennis shoes instead of his old boots. He wished for a lot of things,

After walking up a small hill, and grabbing on to what seemed to be a branch from a tree, Daryl pointed north with his hand at light that came from what appeared to be some kind of cabin. The sight was faint, but it was definitely a light and that meant that the group of sadists were holding up the place. “Is that it?” Daryl asked, turning to Veronica.

“Yes,” she replied, her tone fearful. Rick wondered if she had ever had to deal with the same monsters Daryl and Rick had. He doubted it and felt guilty for thinking that.

“Hmph. Are you ready?” the squirrel hunter asked, looking at Rick more than the girl between the two.

Rick didn’t have a gun, and although he wished he did, deep down he knew he didn’t actually need one. Not right now. He was in a pissy mood and these men had no idea what awaited them out in the dark.

 


End file.
